Free Yourself
From The Pain of Fibromyalgia
What Causes Fibromyalgia?
The cornerstone of fibromyalgia treatment is understanding where it comes from. Fibromyalgia is caused by hypothalamic suppression.
The hypothalamus controls most of your body’s glands, so when it becomes weakened, a cascade of negative effects can occur in your body. The hypothalamus controls the adrenals, thyroid, sex hormones, the autonomic system (which regulates body temperature, blood pressure, and the anti-diuretic hormone), and the sleep center.
Fibromyalgia results when the hypothalamus has been weakened from long-term stress, short-term extreme stress, a chronically deficient diet, exposure to toxins, as well as several other factors. These types of stressors often show up as low thyroid, adrenal exhaustion, and chronic infections (which often go undiagnosed and untreated). Underneath it all, the cellular power plant of the body — the mitochondria — has become dysfunctional, making it almost impossible to recover without a targeted medical program.
A factor that disguises this issue is that blood tests for hypothalamic suppression have a very wide “normal” range. Here at Renewed Vitality in Dallas TX, we look at the test results and also the function. If the test shows inside the listed “normal” but the function is impaired, we work to get that function back.
This factor means it is common for fibromyalgia and hypothalamic suppression to be misdiagnosed by doctors not familiar with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. We know that if we want to restore energy and vitality, then we have to get your hormones back to correct levels and restore function to your glandular system.
Fibromyalgia Treatment
Fibromyalgia treatment has made a huge amount of progress in the last 15 years. However, successful treatment requires that you work with a doctor who has specialized knowledge of this syndrome and who can look past the obvious symptoms and see the causes.
It is important to understand that the treatment of symptoms, while often very needed, does not help resolve the underlying conditions — fibromyalgia is much too serious to try to just cover up with a painkiller.
Also, because this disease can be complex to treat, it requires more than a 10- or a 15-minute visit to your local doctor. Trying to treat fibromyalgia in a 10-minute interview has resulted in a great many people in the US going essentially untreated for this very debilitating condition.
Successful treatment requires addressing several issues which, when diagnosed and treated, can lead to an overall return to normal energy and vitality.
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Renewed Vitality Uses a Six-Step Process for
Fibromyalgia Treatment
First: Address the pain and sleep disturbances.
This frequently includes the use of sleep, pain, and antidepressant medications. This treatment is typically only temporary, while we address the underlying problems. It is not the long-term answer as commonly practiced in the traditional medical system.
As a key part of our fibromyalgia treatment, we will perform an extensive laboratory analysis that is both focused on discovering the underlying issue and customized to the symptoms of each patient.
One of the most effective treatments for pain is Trigger Point injections, with medications injected directly into the affected tissue. This often provides four to six weeks of pain relief. Myofascial release/massage therapy also greatly improves pain in many patients until we can treat the underlying disorders.
Second: Rejuvenate the mitochondria and increase energy production.
Getting these little energy power plants in every cell of your body working at optimal levels is essential to restoring your energy. In those suffering from Fibromyalgia, we often find mitochondria in a poisoned condition, leaving the cells starved for energy.
Many things can poison the mitochondria, including hormonal deficiencies, toxins, and infections. Mitochondrial dysfunction may be the common denominator and underlying mechanism that explains the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
In addition to using treatments to rid the body of the offending agents, we can give specific nutrients to jumpstart the mitochondria and get the cells functioning well again. We can administer these nutrients either orally or intravenously.
Third: Balance hormones.
Hormonal deficiencies are often missed or poorly treated because doctors have traditionally used blood tests that count on a healthy pituitary and hypothalamus as a standard. These traditional tests measure levels, not function, and therefore several critical hormone deficiencies go undiagnosed and untreated.
Some typical hormone functions that need to be evaluated include thyroid function, growth hormone, testosterone, aldosterone, cortisol, DHEA, pregnenolone, estradiol, and progesterone. When hormones are properly treated and balanced, we can achieve tremendous results! Follow-up care requires regular monitoring of the correct hormone levels for continued hormone health.
Fourth: Treat the immunity factor.
Various infections can either be a major cause of fibromyalgia or contribute to the problem, therefore, addressing these is a vital part of fibromyalgia treatment. Because the immune system may not be operating properly, it is possible that there may be more than one infection that we must address.
Some of these potential troublemakers include viruses such as Epstein Barr (EBV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Human Herpes Virus 6 (HHV6). Also, Enteroviruses, such as Coxsackie and Parvo, can be culprits. Bacterial infections like Mycoplasma pneumonia, Chlamydia pneumonia, Borrelia Burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Babesia, and Ehrlichia can also contribute to fibromyalgia. We must also evaluate several yeasts, such as Candida, and also parasites.
In a weakened immune system, infections with the above organisms will further suppress the body’s defenses and often results in further infections with other organisms. These are called opportunistic infections. Even with the most aggressive treatments, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to destroy the infection if the weakened immune system is not addressed and treated as well. It is critical to assess infections and be treated for them along with being treated for a suppressed immune system.
As you can see in this diagram, a multitude of factors can be underlying causes of fibromyalgia. Sometimes it is a perfect storm containing many of these issues. Our aim is to isolate and treat those underlying factors to get you well again.
Treatment may include oral or intravenous (IV) medications. Often, a combination of IV and oral medication can be extremely powerful in treating infections and a compromised immune system simultaneously. Prescription anti-infectives and immune-boosting supplements work together to get control of these rogue infections and restore health to an ailing immune system.
Fifth: Explore unique causes.
Some groups of individuals have specific problems that we must address as part of their fibromyalgia treatment.
For instance, some patients may have suffered from a chronic infection that has created a coagulation defect, which results in the body laying down fibrin (or fibrous protein) coating on cells that impairs oxygen and nutrient transfer to the cells. This can cause fatigue, muscle aches, and “brain fog.” If this condition is suspected, specialized testing is required. If this condition goes untreated, not only are the cells starved for oxygen and nutrition, but it is very difficult to eliminate any infections because they will “hide” in the fibrin coating.
The infectious organisms may also produce neurotoxins which can remain in the body and continue to cause problems long after the organisms that produced them are gone. Some patients have such severe symptoms of “brain fog” that they require intensive evaluations of brain function and very direct treatment to alleviate the problem. Fortunately, there are tests and procedures that we can do to rid the body of these toxins and restore health to the cells.
Sixth: Maintenance.
When fibromyalgia treatment is complete, a plan of maintenance will help patients continue their newfound health. Patients remain on a few core medications and supplements that are important to continue their health. These may be taken to sustain their health for many years. As with all medical treatments, some patients may require additional therapies, as their case dictates. And there is a wealth of helpful information for lifestyle and maintenance steps to help you.
When a comprehensive treatment plan is in place, significant recovery or a complete resolution of symptoms is the rule, rather than the exception.
Testimonials
“5 stars. I love Dr. Spurlock! Hadn’t seen him in 10 years. I lived in New Jersey, moved to New York and he was getting me on the straight and narrow with my health. Personal reasons stopped me and I went back to NY & NJ specialists. I became worse over the years and pretty much felt like a ping-pong ball.
March 2017, I supposedly had a TIA. I was shuffled from specialist to specialist in NY, nine to be exact. Many million dollar work ups, basic bloods with perhaps one exotic thrown in for good measure, nothing found and shuttled off to another specialist. An endocrinologist told me my fibromyalgia was secondary, but to what? She never could figure the primary. My findings were that I needed a pacemaker, and that I had phospholipid antibody syndrome, but I still remained ill, depressed and in pain.
I decided enough was enough and made my appointment with Doctor Spurlock and came to Texas from visiting California. Best thing I could have done for myself. As a phlebotomist, I know blood is (most times) the beginning and/or confirmation of a diagnosis. Dr. Spurlock pulls no punches and plays no games with his profession and passion for his patients. I am so happy with all that he ordered, but mostly what he found! I’m not crazy nor psychosomatic. I’m back on the path to wellness at 60! Thank you, Doctor Spurlock! Going to add that I have scheduled an appointment for my niece to be assessed by Doctor Spurlock. When in doubt, check Dr. Spurlock and Renewed Vitality out. May God Bless.” – Susan C.*
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“To say Dr. Spurlock goes ‘above and beyond’ is almost laughable because it doesn’t say enough about his efforts. I went to a ridiculous amount of doctors to get help for debilitating fatigue and pain. He took one look at me and listed off things he suspected. The blood tests soon confirmed each and every one. I was just baffled that no one else had ever thought to order the ones he uncovered. Dr. Spurlock thrives with complicated cases and doesn’t believe in ‘Band-Aid medicine.’ He will take as much time and effort to get to the root cause. If you think that there are no longer doctors that care… you haven’t met him. My life changed the day I found him! Truly, it was like winning the lottery.” – Janna R. *
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“Renewed Vitality offers more than Hope, but also evolutionary physical overall health practices… these doctors at this clinic are onto a cure for fibromyalgia and pain. It is from calming your mind to curing the physical ailment, not just covering it up with drugs. It gives you a new life. They have turned my life around in just days, weeks, and months.
“I started 10 months ago in very much in pain and in bed having fibro fog, fire skin, sporadic sleep, on medication. I listened and the main thing is I changed my thought, changed my attitude, and changed my diet. Then I listened some more… and I have not had a fibro attack in over 6 months. Have not felt this good for this long in over 13 years. I feel healed and blessed. I am off all medication and on vitamins, minerals, eat less but am more satisfied and healthy. Give Yourself A Chance To Be Well. Give them a call at this fantastic clinic.” – Edie B. *
*results vary from patient to patient.
Our Board-Certified Nurse Practitioners
Roxana Cocos – APRN, MSN, FNP-C
Roxana graduated with honors (cum laude) from the University of Texas in Dallas with a Bachelors’s in Neuroscience as well as from the Texas Woman’s University with a Bachelors’s in Nursing. In 2011, she completed her education with a Master of Science in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University.
As a Family Nurse Practitioner, she has worked in Family Practice, Primary Care, Urgent Care, and Endocrinology, giving her a well-rounded foundation of experience in treating patients.
She is board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, a proud member of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and of the Academy of Preventive and Innovative Medicine.
Roxana is passionate about personalized health and medicine. While working as a Family Nurse Practitioner, she found the “pill for every ill” model dysfunctional and misleading, as simply treating the symptoms rather than the causes, not only failed to resolve the patients’ conditions but often caused even more side effects. In her search to solve this puzzle, she was introduced to Integrative Health and Medicine while attending a conference. She has completed with honors the two-year postgraduate fellowship in Integrative Health and Medicine.
Roxana is driven to empower patients, through the use of many resources for high-quality diagnostics and education, to take control of their own health and to help guide them on their paths to wellness.
Taylor Troup, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Taylor is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with over 15 years of experience in functional medicine and integrative therapies. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2011. After working in Functional Medicine for several years, she went on to obtain a Master of Science from the University of Texas at Arlington, graduating with honors and becoming a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Taylor is dedicated to serving clients with both acute and long-standing health concerns. She provides compassionate and collaborative care, and creates customized treatment plans tailored to each client and their unique needs. She gets great satisfaction helping those with thyroid disorders, hormone imbalances, food intolerances, GI issues, fatigue, and weight/metabolic dysfunction.
Taylor continues to train on the most up-to-date information so that she can offer the most innovative care to her clients, and is excited to continue her education with The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the Institute of Functional Medicine!
There is Hope!
Today there is a workable Fibromyalgia Treatment. Here at Renewed Vitality, our doctors and nurse practitioner stay abreast of the latest breakthroughs and make sure you get the best possible treatment. We pride ourselves on being many years ahead of most doctors in fibromyalgia treatment. Often patients will feel better within a few weeks and, according to our records, we show significant improvement in 80% of all our patients within the first four visits.
Free Phone Consultation with our New Patient Coordinator
Renewed Vitality is a place of hope. Our knowledgeable providers are experts in their field and take the time to find the underlying causes of hormonal imbalances and illness. We will work with you using proven, scientific-based technology in a warm and compassionate environment to help you restore your health so that you can live a life of vitality and wellness.
Please contact our New Patient Coordinator for your Free Phone Consultation. She can answer any questions or concerns that you may have and give you additional information about our providers, our protocols and fees, what insurance covers and what it doesn’t cover, and any other details you may need. She can also get you booked for your first appointments if you decide we are a good fit for you. There are no obligations to book an appointment. You can reach us at (214) 740-4703, or complete the form below and we will contact you!